Former WWE Champion Addresses First Match Since Release

Published: Mar 9, 2026 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Mar 9, 2026 by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

WWE

A former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion has addressed her first match since being released in May of last year.

Having previously been released and made her return in 2022, Dakota Kai’s time in WWE would come to an end three years later in May.

An in-ring absence of almost a year came to an end over this past weekend, with Kai returning to the ring as Charlie, facing AEW star Kris Statlander.

The match at EVE Wrestle Queendom VIII at The O2 in London, England, saw Statlander return the independent company’s International Championship, with Charlie now addressing her in-ring return, tweeting:

“Hello, thank you, I love you 🥹🫶🏽”

Charlie later sent a thank-you message to Pro Wrestling EVE, writing:

ty @ProWrestlingEVE, yall were a class act 🫶🏽🥹

Her former Damage CTRL teammate, Kairi Sane, would share an emoji-filled reponse, replying to Charlie with:

“🥹❤️❤️❤️🫶🏻✨”

Prior to the match, Bayley also sent a message to the former Dakota Kai, along with a photo of the pair of them together in WWE.

With Will Ospreay serving as producer of EVE, the AEW star would reveal how he was able to bring the former WWE star to the independent wrestling promotion.

Along with being a former WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion (with IYO SKY), Dakota Kai was also the inaugural (and two-time) NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion alongside Raquel Rodriguez.

Her last WWE match took place in March of last year, with a victory over Ivy Nile on Main Event, taped at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow, Scotland.